


Soulmates AU (or the scoobies get royally screwed by their destinies)

by danverspotsticker



Series: A Good Ol' Soulmate AU [1]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: F/F, F/M, My trash self couldn't help it, Soulmates AU, colours au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-01
Updated: 2016-07-01
Packaged: 2018-07-19 09:04:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7354648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/danverspotsticker/pseuds/danverspotsticker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Soulmate AUs. You can recommend the type of soulmates or how they figure out they're soulmates or the ship (or all three of you want).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Soulmates AU (or the scoobies get royally screwed by their destinies)

**Author's Note:**

> Everything belongs to Joss Whedon who which I am forever grateful for. Idea came from a soulmates AU on tumblr.

Willow is thirteen when her parents ask her if she knows what soulmates are. She doesn't know much but she knows that you supposedly see colour when you meet them. Her parents don't tell her much more and when she asks if they see in colour there is an awkward pause before her father says yes, not without receiving a glare from her mother, of course. She doesn't believe them, doesn't want to believe them, because if these soulmates are supposed to make you feel whole then hadn't she already found hers in Xander?

Willow continues resenting her parents for lying to her, for saying what she felt for Xander wasn't enough. Until she meets Buffy. No, Buffy isn't her soulmate, but Buffy has a soulmate - Angel, and, Goddess, the way she talks about colours, Willow thinks this pain might just be worth it if the outcome will be so beautiful. Willow meets Oz a little over a year later and she sees colours, so many colours. But… They're not what she expected. She expected firework beautiful, Harry Potter magical, colours, but these, they look like a faded picture.

She doesn't ask anyone about it, she's scared she'll sound ungrateful so she represses it, tells herself that this is what love is supposed to feel like, sacrifice. But then Buffy has to kill Angel, and she had really believed that spell was going to work and Buffy's gone and she might be dead and the colours fade more and she doesn't know what's happening. Who is she supposed to talk to? Xander has Cordelia in whatever way, Giles just lost Jenny and she doesn't want to rip into the fact that he'll never see colours again, and it's not like she can tell Oz that she's having doubts whether he's her soulmate or not. So she dives headfirst into magic and reads everything Giles will let her read (and more). She tries to connect with the spirit world, hopes she'll find a reason to keep loving Oz there, she doesn't. But she does learn where the flashlight is and maybe that's enough.

Buffy comes back about two weeks after what Willow now refers to as the incident. And, Goddess, she almost runs away, again. Willow never knew Angel as much more than the vampire that Buffy loved and the monster that had killed the only viable mother figure Willow had. But Willow knew that Buffy was hurting without him, knew that she probably didn't see colours anymore. She wondered if Giles and Buffy had ever talked about that. Willow always found it silly that Buffy saw colours at all considering her soulmate was technically dead.

One evening, when Willow was staying at the Summers Residence, Buffy had told her that she still saw the colours but they were faded. When Willow asks “Faded how?” Buffy answers “Like an old picture.” Willow has to excuse herself to the bathroom where she convinces herself not to cry, convinces herself that crying isn't comforting, and that's what she has to be for Buffy.

Willow starts to give up after that, cares a little less about making it through patrol every night, almost wishes that Oz would die so she would see in grays again, almost. She's doing well enough until the formal dance. She kisses Xander and those colours, they flair. She never thought brown could be such a beautiful colour. So she keeps kissing him, because every time colours are brighter for a second. And, goddess, if it isn't worth it. Until Willow remembers that she loves Oz. She loves Oz right? So Willow tries to do a spell. Magic will fix this, magic fixes things, magic can fix everything. It probably would've worked but then Spike kidnaps her and Xander and she'll be damned if Xander doesn't make it out of this (she probably already is). But then Cordelia and Oz come in, ready to save them and the colours fade even more when she locks eyes with Oz, and when Cordelia is impaled she almost cries because talk about being stabbed in the back.

Oz forgives her, eventually. But she grovels first, because if she can't be a good soulmate then what else is she? And then of course there's the thing with the doppelgänger. Before vampire-her is sent back to the universe she came from Willow asks if there's soulmates there. When vampire-her answers Hell no, Willow wishes they could switch places (not out loud, of course). When the school gets blown up it looks pretty good for Willow and Oz, they'll both be going to the same university and Oz has fully forgiven her. And maybe Willow doesn't have to see the brightest colours to be happy. Maybe she just needs to know that Oz’s favourite colour is green and every time he tells her he looks into her eyes.

University goes great, until Veruca enters the equation. Then Oz is all matriarchal with his ‘but Willow if I hadn't slept with her she would've killed someone’. Nope, it's not like he could've told, say, a close friend who happens to kill monsters. And she could've forgiven him, would've forgiven him, but he leaves, and it hurts like losing Jesse and Jenny all over again. So she mopes for a while, accidentally destroys her friends lives for a day and honestly contemplates becoming a vengeance demon before she meets her.

Tara has gorgeous blue eyes, and artificial bright blonde hair with dirty blonde roots, her skin is pale and her lips are a beautiful pink. Willow knows this because not only can she see colours, she can see more colours, brighter colours. She is awed by this beautiful person sitting across from her. This shy Wicca who had made her see colours, the way Tara stares back confirms that she see colours too. But Willow's not gay, she'd had a crush on Xander for twelve years, she'd had sex with Oz, she was as straight as a ruler (she would later learn that you can get rulers that bend). They become friends, bonding over magic and school until one day Tara laughs so hard she snorts and it's the most magical thing Willow has ever seen or heard so she kisses her. And she feels that Harry Potter magical, firework beautiful kind of love. They continue on like this, Oz comes back but they stay together. But Willow has to explain to Oz that while she did see colours she couldn't see the ones that mattered the most (like blue, oh goddess blue).

Everything goes well for the next couple years if you ignore the apocalypses (apicali?) until Buffy dies, again. Willow's colours fade ever so slightly and she promised herself she would never let her colours fade again so Buffy better not be comfortable in that grave of hers. But then it gets worse and Tara gives her a - well deserved - ultimatum and she chooses magic over the colours and goddess she was an idiot. So she gives up the magic, gives up the power and let's herself be content with the power of having a soulmate and Tara forgives her, kind of. Tara doesn't last long enough to have that talk.

That bastard, his skin is gray, his robot is gray, his electronics are gray, his lack of skin is gray. The end of the world is gray, Buffy's hair is gray, Giles’ blood is gray, Xander's eyes are gray. Everything is gray (what has she done?) Everything is gray (what has she done?) Everything is gray (what has she done?)

**Author's Note:**

> I will take ship requests for this series on my tumblr @willowtare. So if you wanna come find me.


End file.
